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Gotcha!

Now that the case for interoperable technologies is built and you have looked at how committees develop technologies standards, you might be wondering if this is real. The standards bodies do create and maintain open technical standards and they do rely on volunteers from for-profit companies in the industry to do so. That much is true. However, those volunteersand their employersare not necessarily as altruistic as they might appear.

Interoperable products are also, by their nature, interchangeable. Thus, a LAN switch, a device similar to a router that performs packet filtering before forwarding, from Nortel Networks can be replaced by a switch from Cisco Systems without any functionality change impacting users. The switch is literally a commodityit is functionality in a box that doesn't vary appreciably, regardless of who made it or where you bought it.

What would compel you to buy one manufacturer's product instead of someone else's? Marketing and brand loyalty are two easy answers, but the open-standard technology development process is more subtly exploited to create an advantage.

Two common exploits follow:

Releasing products in advance of a completed open standard

Creating products that embrace an open standard, but also include proprietary features outside that standard

These hidden "gotchas" apply to both hardware and software, and can even be found amongst advances made within the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Getting a Jump on Emerging Standards

One way companies can use an open standard to their own advantage is by jumpstarting the development of a new open-standard technology. Think about it: You don't want a system that stifles creativity or innovation, but you do want interoperability. The information technology industry has evolved so that most people who volunteer for work within the various standards-settings bodies are contributing on direct behalf of their employer. Thus, they tend to lobby and argue in favor of things that benefit their employer. Often, they argue in favor of things their employer has already developed.

This technique rewards proprietary forays into new technologies, or advances of existing technologies, by creating a small window of opportunity in which that company is the only game in town. Everyone else who agrees to the proposal has to play catch-up!

People who buy products before that product's standard is completed must realize they are buying a nonstandard product. That product anticipates what the standard will be and might be close to the standard when it gets finishedbut you can't be sure!

Using Open Standards to Create Proprietary Products

Another approach is to create proprietary technologies through open-standardssetting processes. That sounds like a contradiction, but is a fairly common practice. Companies embrace an open standard, but then add special features that weren't a part of the original standard. Consequently, those features are only a part of that particular manufacturer's product set.

The net effect is that interoperability is okay within the confines of the open standard. Interoperability breaks down when you attempt to use a proprietary feature. Because most consumers don't know where the standard ends and the proprietary extensions begin, symptoms of the mismatch are often viewed as a problem with standards-compliant products, as opposed to a problem with products that go beyond the standard.

Making Sense of the Chaos

The world of open technology standards is far from perfect. In fact, its strengthcollaborative developmentalso creates the potential for some serious traps that can ensnare the unwary buyer! Despite the seemingly altruistic goal of openly collaborating for the greater good, companies are tempted by the profits had by offering proprietary technologies. The net result: Let the buyer beware!

Take time to research when you need to buy any piece of network or computing gear. The newer the technology, the more critical it is to research each manufacturer's products. More importantly, you need to figure out the current state of any open standard that guides the development of those products and see how closely they conform to that standard.

You can tell if what you are buying meets your expectation of interoperability by understanding the standards and asking questions before you buy.